elliot



W. H. ELLIOT.

Breach-Loading Fire-Arm.

Patented Dec. 13. [870.

Letters Patent No. 110,024, dated December 13, 1870.

am IMPROVEMENT 1N BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

The Schedule referred 'to Ln these Letters Patent and making parl; of the same.

7 n ,a' s l Z0 Il 720m i my WNW/lff li tinig-screws, for fastening it to thesides of the receiver.

i', main-spring. i', roller o the' same. l7.-, trigger-spring. l, pawlspring.` nl, retractor. mf, pivot of' the same. marin of' the retractor. az', part of the retractor, which forces back the firing Be it known that I, HLLIAH H. ELLIOT, of the city, enmity, and State olf New York, have invented a. new and improved Breech-loading Fireivm; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and cxact description thereof, reference being had to ihe aci companying drawing and. to the lettersof reference l marked thereon.

Similar letters of reference indicate the saine devices in all the figures. n the arts o comprehend, pin.

.lo enable others sliiilc make,anil use niyinvez e A I will prc'ecii toilescribc i a, point of the retraetor, which aetslupon the carn its nat-ure, construction, and operation. tridge to throw itout oi' the chamber when the breech- '.i ie nature of my inveniioi. consists in a combinablock, iii its downward movement strikes the arni n. tion oi' mechanism whereby the breech-Mock is moved o, bevel cnt on the forward end of the breech-block back andfforth to open andclose the chamber byeaen for the pin-pose of giving room for .the cartridge and alternate backward incrementof the hammer, while retractor to more bac the hammer is making ybackwardand ."'oi'vrard `niorc. completely eiiciiffnnd-filso 'te force the cartridge into 'ments inthe manipnlationfof the arm. The principal l the chamber, should it be carelessly left projecting a device which communicates the force given to the little when inserted by the hand. hiininer to thc breech-hlock is a connecting-link hav.- p, firing-pin in two parts, being cnt in two .at 'the ing two points ofattaohinent or connect-ion at one end I `joint of the breech-block. ,and one or more points of connection at the other end. 1)', spring of the saine. This connecting-link may be properly called a pawl, l lr, full-cock notch. as it is alternately connected and disconnected with r', safety-notch or half-cock notch. its points ofAattaehment or notches. This paw! i ratchet or notch for opening the chamber. operated to change from one point or" attachment to e', notch for closing the same. the otherv by a. spring, which is fastened to a fired if, point on the breech-block for catching the point point upon the arm, and consequently changes the n of the hammer, so as to prevent the hammer from direction of its force npon 'the pawl as that device is striking the firing-pin incase the breech-block he not moved back and forth'by the hammer, while the spring, in place. by its action upon the breech-block through the pawl, e, depression in the arm of the breech-bloek, in serves to hold hot-h oi' these devices iii-place Y which the point u' ofthe hammer rest-s while loading. Figure l is a vertical section of my improved arm This m. y be so formed as to act as a cam and raise through the center, showing the parts in the posi-tion the forward end of the breech-block, if necessary, to they are in at the moment of discharge. facilitate loading.

Figure 2 is a. side elevation of the principal moving w, stop, which limits the upward movement of the parts, showing another method-of applying a pawlbreech-block, and also the backward movementof` the spring. hammer when it closes the chamber.

Figure 3 is a top view ofthe hreech-blok and donbie ac, stop which limits the downward movement of the pawl, showing the friction-holt and spring. breech-block and also the backward movement of the n, receiver or frame of the arm. hammer when it opens the chamber.

b, breech-bloeit. y, friction-bolt and spring to assist in holding the il', pivot and'joint of the saine.' breech-block in any position. c, barrel. My improvement refers to all arms having a swingc, cartridge-chamber. ing breech-block; ont in this specification I have shown d, hammer. it applied to a breech-block which is pivoted at its rear d', pivot ofthe saine. end anti swings vertically with its plane in the center e and e', double pawl. line of the barrel; and e", pivot of the sain`c,joining it to b", the arm ofthe The objectof my invention is to dispense with all breech-block. levers for operating the arm except the hammer, and f; trigger. also to load and i'iro the arm by the i'cwest possible f', pivot of the saine. motions. l g, upper tan". 'lhe operation of loading and firing my arin is as h, lower tang. iollows the chamber, and each other alternate backward plicated and more likely to "get out ot' order.

upon catch s.

io hold the Snpcsng it has `just been fired and has an empty cartridge-ease in the chan'iber, by drawing the hammer back the pawl e catches on notch s, bringing the forward end of the breech-block down upon the arm a of the reti-actor, giving the point of thc same a rapid movement backward, and throwing out the 'empty case. rlhe hammer is then allowed to fall till its point 'a' rests in depression o, as seen in iig.'2. By this operation vthe notch s is lcarried back till the end of t-he pawl e' falls in front of it. A fresh cartridge is now inserted, and, as it is pushed into the chamber the rim or head catches the point n" of theretraetor, carrying it forward and causing the breech-block to rise a little so as to partly close the chamber.

'lhe hammer is now brought to full cock, during which operation the notch s strikes pawl c,'carrying the breech-block to the position for tiring, when the arm n'iay be fired in the usual way. A

1u case the cartridge has not been completely pushed into the chamber by hand, the bevel o on the forward end oi' the breech-,block when it rises strikes the rim of the cartridge and forces it toits place in the chamber.

If by accident the breechfblock has been displaced after cocking the arm and before firing, the point u' will catch upon point n, and so prevent the discharge.

In thus manipulating the arm the hammer acts as a lever for opening and closing the chamber, each alternate backward movemept of the hammer opening movement of the hammer closing the chamber. Thus the chamber is alternately opened and closed by the lbackward movements of the hammer. e

By this arrangement of. devices I obtain, by means of the hammer, all theleyer-power necessary for opening and closing the chamber, as the hammer makes about three-fourths of a sweep in opening the chamber, and also about the same amount of movement in closing it; but, by arranging the notches s and s'nearer the center of the` hammer, it would make a longer sweep at each operation of opening and closing the chamber, and by that means its lever-power might be increased, if necessary.

Two single pawls might be used instead .of the double pawl described; but these would be more com-..

As the pawl-springl isstationary its bearing upon the pawl is sometimes in front and sometimes in the rear of p ivot e". When the pawl is drawn-back by notch s the bearing` of spring lis in front ofthe pivot, causingv4 the rear end of the pawl to fall, and thus liberate catch or notch s and take hold uponnotch s', and as another backward movement of the hammer sends the `pawl forward the bearing of spring l is changed tothe rear of pivot e", which causes the pawl e-to release notch s', and pawl e' again totake hold t While spring l is operating'the double pawl, it at the sam'e time acts as a friction-spring to hold the breech-block in any position.

In fig. 2 a different pawl-spring is shown, the lower end of which is pivoted tothe lower tang and the npper end to the pawl over pivot e, and as it is caused to swing back and forth upon its tang-pivot it tends to raise and lower the rear end of the pawls, and at theysame time, by'lifting up upon the pivot e,jtftcnds breech-block up when thev chamber is closed, and to hold it down when the chamber is open.

At the moment the retgactor acts upon the empty cartridge-case to throw it" ont of the chamber, the surface n forces the firing-pin back'so as to prevent an accidental discharge while closing the chamber.

My improved arm may be unloaded from half-cock in'two ways: either by letting the hammer down till pawl e catches upon notch s, and then by the usual backward movement of the hammer upon the chami ber and draw the cartridge; or it may be unloaded i by pressing hearily on about the middle of the breechblock with the thumb of the left hand, and Aat the same time drawing thc hammer a little-way directly back from the half-cock position. lhis latter method is preferable, as by it there is v no danger that the lir- -ingpn may be brought in contact with thc cartridge. rlhe 'notches s and s' are far'enough apart so that lwhen one pawl is engaged on one of them thc other pawl will pass the other notch without touching it.

All the parts of this arm are arranged centrally, the hammer heilig split upto line d" to accommodate the pawl. The trigger and breech-block are also split to lines f" and b'" for the same purpose, and the notches s and s' are made 'by passing pins' through the hammer from side to side.

The double pawl, with itscatches s and s', would work equally well if arranged on the side of the breechblock and hammer, and these catches may beconstructed byv cutting regular notches in the solid maf terial of the hammer.

The pawl may be more properly described as a connecting-link for conveying force from the hammer to the breech-block. lt may be made in one or more pieces, and of any suitable equivalent shape, and it may all be directly orindirectly between the hammer and breech-block. v

The catches s and s are points ofattaehment or connection of the pawl or connecting-link, andas manual force can only beconveniently applied to the hammer `during its backward movement, the morement of the breech-block must, therefore, be made to occur during the backward i'novemenis of the hammer; and as the movements of the breech-block are in two directions, viz, downward to open the chamber and upward to close it, it becomes necessary that there be two points-'of connection for the pawl to the hammereone arranged above the center, or on one side of it, and the other below'the center, or on the other Yside of it, so that, while one ot these points, during`the backward movement of the hammer, is moving forward, or in one direct-ion, and the other moving backward, or inthe` other direction, the movement of the breech-block to open or close the chamber will depend upon which point of attachment is in connection with the pawl. i

'lwo separate pawls may be used instead of theone double pawl herein shown, an'd these may be attached permanently to Athe hammer at proper points, and engage and disengage with a catch or catches on the ar'm of the breech-block, or a single pawl 'may be attached to the hammer, and, -by suitable devices, be made tc act upon, the breech-block at `two points of connection, one below and one above the center of vmotion. But these would all be equivalent-sof the devices herein shown, as there would still bc the connecting-link or pawl with its two pointsof comico-.-

tion, one of which would be moving one way and the other the other way during the backward movements of the hammer.

To make the movement of the breech-block by means of the hammer practicable, it has been found necessary to construct and operate the parts so that the hammer, in opening the chamber, shall make, as near as possible, a full sweep. backward, for the purpose of obtaining by this long motion the necessary power over the breech-block in case ,of unusual friction. So, also, in closing the chamber, it is necessary that the hammer make as nearly as possible another full sweep backward, for thel same reason ;and, therefore, to accomplish these ends, the hammer, in the manipulation ol the arm, must make alternate forward and backward sweeps. l` mean by forward sweeps, when the thiunb-piece of the han'imer moves forward toward the mnzzhroi" the arm, and by bac kward sweeps, when the thumb-piece of the hammer moves backward toward the butt.

rlhe first sweep in manipulating the arm is backy ward, till the stop of the breech-block, in its movement for opening the chamber, stops also the hammer. '.lhe second sweep is forward, to effect a change in the connecting points, and, to give the greatest possible length to the third sweep, which is backward, for closing, the chamber; the fourth sweep is forward, for firingr the arm. Thus, in the manipulation of my improved arm, the hammer makes alternate backward and forward sweeps, opening the chamber by one al tcl-nate backward sweep of the'hammer, and losing sweep for closing the chamber commences.

The principal function performed by spring l is to change the pawl from one catch to the other, and this is done byachange of position of the pawl in relation to the spring, so that its force is at one time applied to raise the pawl, and at another time to lower it. There are manyways of applying the spring to produce this result. I have shown two practical ways.

In this specification' I have mentioned the pawls e and e' as one double pawl,-but I claim them equally whether formed out of one piece of metal, as shown, or made in two separate pieces.

Having described my invention,

' W'hat I claim, and desire t0 secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. The combination of mechanism herein described, or its equivalent, whereby the breech-block is forced -back and forth to open and close the chamber by the alternate backward movements of the hammer, as sct forth.

2. The combination of the double pawl e and e' with a hammer and breech-block, for the purpose of openingfand closing the chamber, substantially in the manner described. p

3. The combination of paw] ewith the hammer and breech-block, when operated by spring l, or its equi\'- alcnt, to open the chamber at each alternate backward movement of the hammer, as specified.

4. I:lhe combination of pawl e' with the hammer and breech-block, when operated by spring I, orits equivalent, to close the ch'lmber at each alternate backward movement of the hammer, as set forth.

5. The combination of spring l, pawls e and e', hammer d, with its catches s and s', when said spring operates to throw said pawly back and forth from one catch to the other, substantially as specified.

(i. Tile combination of spring l with pawl e and e and breech-block b, when said spring servesthe double purpose of operating the paivl and holding the breechblock in position,l substantially as specified.

7 Ihc combination of parts herein described, or their equivalents, whereby the backward sweep ofthe Ihammer for opening the chamber is extended beyond the points at which the next backward sweep begins for closing the chamber, as set forth.

8. The catches s and s', when arranged as specified in relation to the center around which they move during the manipulation of the arm, as herein set forth.

movement for opening the chamber, substantially as 

